“Seaside Symphony”

“Seaside Symphony” is one of my favorite quilts ever! I have used this particular pattern for two different quilts now and I love its simplicity. Yes it’s easy to throw together, but it’s also really pleasing to my eye with its eastern, Moroccan kind of feel.

Several years ago I made a summer quilt from this pattern and it has always been a favorite to me. It was made with bamboo batting and designed to be a very lightweight warm weather layer. And it lives up to its nature. It is no winter quilt! You freeze under it. But in warm weather it provides a comfortable layer without sweating you out. (shown below)

Seaside Symphony is exactly the opposite. It was designed to be a cold weather quilt, heavy weight with double batting and good quality heavy Egyptian cotton for the backing. It was made especially for the HideyHo, my little camper project, and meant to keep you warm in cold weather, whether in the camper or in a tent. I decided not to continue with the camper project, so this quilt has set unfinished for the past couple of years.

When Sara moved into her new room and decided on an aqua-ish, seaside kind of theme I thought this quilt would be perfect for her. She has trouble staying warm, plus she has certain sensory issues which makes her like to have good weight in her blankets to make her feel secure. This quilt was perfect. So even though I loved it I decided I would pass it on to her if she wanted it. She did! And I finished it today! It looks great on her bed. Hope it keeps her nice and toasty!

Coleslaw

We have had a passion in our house this winter for good, old-fashioned coleslaw. We can’t seem to make enough of or keep enough of it around. But making it a certain way is what has turned us on to it so.

I adore Savoy cabbage, always have. I discovered that using it to make cabbage salad gives the salad a gentler crunch and texture that we really like much better than harder green cabbage. And it has so many health benefits, including being jam-packed with cancer-fighting  glucosinolates, as well as a ton of Vitamin C, K, and folate.

Here’s our simple recipe:

Wash, trim, and finely slice a medium head of savoy cabbage. (I much prefer slicing thin to                   shredding but that’s up to you.)

Peel and grate a large carrot into the cabbage.

Dressing is approximately: 1 1/4 cup of good mayonnaise, 2 Tbs. white vinegar, salt and pepper, and anywhere from a tablespoon to a quarter cup of cane sugar. (I know. It’s a little bit of sugar, but use natural if possible and appreciate all the great raw veggies you’re consuming.)

That’s it! Mix it…eat it…eat small bowls of it often! The ever humble Coleslaw.

“Pink Passion”

This past year or so Jordy moved from a single bed into a double. Her little girl 3 year old quilt was a fairly small one when it was made, not even a true twin size, so obviously does her no good as a spread for her big bed. And she is getting of an age that she is due for a new quilt.

As we talked over colors and fabrics she came up with a scheme of black, purple, and hot pink! Oy! Anyone who knows me knows that those are colors that least resonate with me! I really doubted whether I could come up with an idea that would work well.

In my stash of quilt patterns I came across this pattern I had used once in the past and really liked. I headed to the fabric store to choose fabrics and, lo and behold, for once in my lifetime, the plan just flew together like it was destined! Once I found the “anchor” fabric…the one that pulls it all together…the others were no brainers and I brought them home thoroughly happy with my choices.

As I have put the quilt together I have been stunned by the result. Even though not my favorite colors, I think “Pink Passion” is going to be one of the most striking quilts I’ve ever made. It is truly a stunner. I’m not sharing it until it is done and handed over. I want it to be a complete surprise for Jordy…she’s not even sure she’s getting it by her birthday…but I also want to keep it to myself to surprise Kelly as well. It’s going to look SO beautiful in her room!

So look for a post this coming month when “Pink Passion” will be revealed.

Mullein Garlic Ear Oil

Someone asked me how we prepare and administer our Mullein Garlic Ear Oil so I thought I’d run through the brief process.

We keep our Mullein Oil (freshly prepared from this past season’s harvest) in the fridge. That’s just our choice. I feel like it keeps it nice and fresh and potent. We don’t make up a whole bunch of ear oil at one time, for two reasons:

1. The link between possible botulism bacteria when a mixture of olive oil and garlic gets older, particularly if not stored in the fridge, and…
2. I feel that the volatile properties in the garlic are much more potent for ear infections and other issues when it is fresh.

 

So when Sara, our main user, lets me know she is having ear pressure and discomfort (like this morning), I pull the already prepared mullein oil out of the fridge and let it warm up a bit on the counter so it is not solid (olive oil often solidifies in the fridge), crush a small piece of fresh garlic (not too small so it gets caught in the dropper-just crush it a bit), and place it down in the bottle, then using our tiny funnel drizzle in enough mullein oil to make no more than about a third of the bottle. Cap it, date-label it, and store in the fridge.

When it’s needed just pop it into a mug of hot water for a minute or so to liquify and warm it, then dropper it into ears as needed. By making only a small amount at a time we don’t feel like it’s a waste to make a fresh bottle each time it is needed.

The Hound of Hell!

Did you ever have a task that you just could not get done? It sits on your shelves, visible and obvious, tapping its toe waiting for you to give it your attention. It dogs you like a hound from hell, yipping and snarling at you to get a grip and finish it!

This past year I started a project that was supposed to be special little Christmas/Birthday gifts for Sara, Abbie, and Kelly; small size lap type quilts. I planned, designed, saved up money. I purchased fabrics, did the preparation, got the tops put together in record time. Then just about the time I was ready to get started on the quilting and finishing work Gary’s health issue happened! Everything else ground to a screeching halt and the three unfinished quilts sat there…and sat there…and sat there. Christmas closed in way too fast, and they still sat there. They began to take on personalities of their own, talking to me in disrespectful terms of how I was a failure, a procrastinator, a lazy bum!

I will tell you the truth, I have almost come to the point of throwing them out more than once because I just could not stand the recriminations any longer! But today, something inside me rallied, and I said to myself, “Self! You can DO this! Just take one and finish it!”

Since Abbie’s was the closest to being finished I tackled hers first, and completed it. I am a huge Charley Harper fan and when I discovered that some of his artwork had been put into fabrics I just had to make something from them. They were hard to get, and a bit expensive, but you know…it’s Charley Harper! The quilt is called “Harper’s Folly”.

Sara’s is called “Bloom Where You’re Planted” and is themed from a wonderful bloom oriented line of fabric called “Lavish” by Katarina Roccella. I was stunned when the fabric arrived. It’s so smooth and silky it feels like fine Egyptian cotton. Really pretty.

Kelly’s used a cowgirl inspired fabric line by Maude Asbury. I loved the variety of the bandana, feather, horseshoe, and cowboy boot prints. The name of the quilt is “Giddy-Up Go”.

I think they will all get these sometime in the next couple of weeks…maybe…

I have another reason for needing to get these done. Jordy is the next in line for a new quilt, and she really needs one for her large full size bed. I’m doing it for her birthday which is coming up in February. I’ve always had a firm rule when sewing; I can’t start a new project with other like projects sitting unfinished. This rule has kept me in good stead over the years, and kept me from having all kinds of started and unfinished projects laying around. Now I feel okay starting the preliminary work for that quilt.

Dehydration

Have you ever had the experience of having an older acquaintance, whether a family member or just someone in your sphere, be taken to the hospital with seriously failing health, only to have it turn out to be nothing more than dehydration? That is amazing to me. But even if you are not an older person dehydration can have a drastic effect on your health and general well being.

One of my goals for this new year is to make sure my water drinking is up to snuff. I am a big water drinker, but have had moments where I have wondered if I am not drinking enough, and maybe getting to that age where thirst doesn’t make itself known as effectively as it used to. I have been filling a two quart glass jug with water each day and making sure it is emptied by nightfall, and I have been surprised at how my vitality has improved in just the past week. I have more energy, am sleeping more soundly, and have a clearer head. (I actually am drinking more than the 64 ounces, but that is the minimum.)

I guess my point is, if you ever have older relatives who seem to be losing it and getting more unwell, maybe the very first thing to address is making sure they are hydrated. It could save an expensive and uncomfortable hospital visit for nothing more than they need to be getting more water into them.

“You…CANNOT…be MOMMY!”

Colette: What are you doing?
Linguini: [stammering] Uh, I’m cutting vegetables. I’m cutting the… vegetables?
Colette: No! You waste energy and time! You think cooking is a cute job, eh? Like Mommy in the kitchen? Well, Mommy never had to face the dinner rush when the orders come flooding in, and every dish is different and none are simple, and all of the different cooking times, but must arrive at the customer’s table at exactly the same time, hot and perfect! Every second counts, you CANNOT be MOMMY!

I love that! Ratatouille is one of my favorite all-time movies. I never get tired of watching it. But there’s a truth to be had in this exchange between Colette and Linguini that is important.

I have had well meaning people over the years want to get me to use restaurant style methods when cutting vegetables. They were only trying to help me do things faster, but they couldn’t grasp the fact that to me, faster is not better! Because you see, in the restaurant business, you cannot be Mommy, but conversely, as a lifetime homemaker, I am not a professional CHEF! I am a homemaker! I do not want to cut vegetables fast and furious! I want to enjoy that process. So here are my interesting facts about the cutting of vegetables.

1. For me cutting vegetables is very stress-relieving. I love the smooth, constant movements that come from a lifetime of slicing and dicing so much the exact same way that I could probably get by with my eyes closed. Regardless of what anyone tells you, there is no right or wrong way to get a vegetable cut up as long as it ends up cut the way you want it to. Of course someone can give you tips on how to get it done when you are first starting out, but in the end you need to find your own flow and method. I have cut an onion the exact same way for decades, and the always perfect dice speaks for itself.
2. I don’t cut slower because I can’t do it faster. I actually enjoy the process. I have been offered food processors over the years, but in our small kitchen I would not use one often enough to have it out. I would rather cut up my vegetables with my own two hands. I LOVE scooping those piles of perfectly diced, sliced, chopped, or julienned produce and watching them plop into whatever dish I am making. There is nothing like that feeling for me. It is one of those things in life that makes me happy in my very soul.
3. The “use it or lose it” factor. Hand cutting vegetables is one of the most important tasks you can do to ward off stiff joints as you get older. I’m convinced the reason people can’t do certain things anymore is simply because they quit doing them! Handwork of various kinds is so important to keeping hands and fingers limber as long as possible, whether it’s knitting, embroidery, sewing, writing, gardening, or…cutting up your own vegetables! You can’t expect things to stay limber if you always let someone or some thing do it for you. It’s like letting someone else exercise for you. Ump…doesn’t work that way.

So with that all said, I’m off to work on a pot of pork and bean soup!

To Recipe or Not to Recipe…That is the Question!

Did you ever hear someone comment on someone else’s cooking and exclaim, “…and she doesn’t even use a recipe!” There seems to be a lot of pride taken in that statement as if food is always better sans recipe.

As a former professional seamstress I used to have a lot of people ask me if I use patterns, and then they would sigh disappointedly when I replied, yes, pretty much always. I do not mean to be disrespectful or condescending when I say this, but as a many decades experienced seamstress, their reaction only served to show their general ignorance of the seam-stressing world. Not ignorance as in stupid, just lack of knowing the art of sewing. Patterns exist for a reason, and a good one. Because people out there have put a lot of time and effort into sizing, proportioning, and fine tuning a pattern that will actually work and fit a person when it is done. I have pulled numerous “my-own-patterns” off Pinterest only to ruin pieces of fabric because someone took pride in not using a pre-made pattern, and it did not work, or fit, at all! Have I created my own patterns myself? Certainly, and some good ones. But that takes a lot of time and effort, not to mention certain specific skill sets.

So, back to recipes. Recipes exist for a reason, because they have been tried and tested. I make many things without using recipes, but I do not scorn the recipe when it is needed. Here’s where this really came home to me. My Mom made a lot of foods with no recipes; in fact most of the things she made. They were always delicious. But here’s what happened. As she got older she simply forgot how she made some things. She meant to make them the same but just could not remember. I waited way too long to ask about some of the things she made and now those “recipes” do not exist. She could never tell me in full how she had made them, so now they are lost.

I finally took the time to get down on paper how I make certain family recipes. Like plain old chicken noodle soup. No one would ever be able to recreate it unless they have written down how I make it. And I’m honest enough to admit that parts of my memory will go to the same place my Mom’s did, and there will be a time when I just can’t remember how I did it. But I will now have that down on paper…at least the basics…so I can continue to make my usual delicious chicken noodle soup, that will always taste the same, right up until I can no longer hold a spoon.

To recipe or not to recipe?…BOTH!

Experiment in Middle Eastern Cuisine

Last week Greg, who is stationed in the Middle East at the moment, sent me some photos of his current favorite, hole-in-the-wall restaurant that serves this awesome lentil dish that he loves. It’s served up in a bowl with a traditional flatbread as a spoon. After me asking a few questions, and him offering what he could find out about the dish, I decided to give it a go.

These are three photos of my finished product.

First of all the bread. Greg was able to find out that the  bread with this dish was probably Tamis (pronounced “tuh-MEESE”), a type of bread baked flat on a hot oven surface. In researching recipes I didn’t find much to choose from. I went on an Afghan cooking site and found this bread spelled, Tameez, and deduced that it was more than likely the same bread. All I can say is, the bread was easy to make and turned out wonderful! It has great taste and a very good “chew” to it; perfect for scooping up the lentil stew as is the traditional way to eat this dish.

If interested here is an awesome short video of these small breads being “stuck” onto the inside of an outdoor oven to bake:  (round oven in the back) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db0xcAVst0o

So, onto the lentil dish, which was far from perfect. It was pretty good but just not, I think, what this dish is supposed to be. First of all, all I had was brown lentils, which are wonderful but are far too “earthy” tasting I think for this dish. Next time I will invest in finding the smaller, yellow lentils which I think this dish uses, evidenced by Greg’s photos as well as what I’m seeing used in the cuisine of this part of the world. I think this dish is probably very much a Dal Soup as seen in the left hand photo below. The right hand photo is the picture Greg sent me from the actual restaurant. Although the left photo of the Dal Soup is very brightly photographed I think it shows that they are both yellow lentil dishes.

Next came the issue of spices which the man who cooks this would not share. Being into herbs and spices I made some guesses based on experience. The photo below shows the man with his three spice tray. Although the photo is blurred, based on the typical spices for that area of the world I guessed at the front right being cumin, the front left being cardamon, and the back being probably some blend of garam masala. Now I think the cumin was for sure, the garam masala (or certainly some of the spices that go in that blend) more than likely. The one I am not sure of is the cardamon. It’s a typical spice for that cuisine, but Greg said he didn’t taste cardamon in the dish at all. I used only a very small amount in mine and even that small amount was very strong tasting, and not necessarily a good taste. It didn’t seem to fit. So now I’m not sure. It’s just that I don’t know many spices with that very gray color. But based on my results, and having checked out some Afghan cooking sites, this is what I’m going to try in the future. This is the recipe as much as Greg could get it:

– Saute the following in a pan on medium-high heat
– One scoop of diced tomatoes and half a jalapeño (cook for one min)
– Add one egg and about half a teaspoon each of three mystery spices (one is cumin) (cook for one min)
– Add 2.5 scoops of pre-soaked lentils and a handful of cilantro (cook for two min)
Serve in a shallow dish, drizzled with a healthy dose of good quality olive oil, with flat bread from the bakery next door, using the bread as a spoon.

My thought is that the lentils themselves were probably not cooked completely bare, so next time I’m going to pre-cook my yellow lentils with some finely chopped onion and garlic, perhaps in chicken broth. Add the whole jalapeño for our family. (Mine had a nice spiciness to it, but it could have used more.) Use as spices, cumin, garam masala, saffron, and maybe a bit of coriander, as well as the last minute addition of the cilantro of course. I also may squeeze in a bit of fresh lemon because I think it needs that touch of acidity. (Possibly their fresher tomatoes have enough without it.)

The reason I’m excited about this dish is because I have been looking to add a new lentil recipe to our arsenal. So healthful and good!

The bread I’m leaving as is! The recipe I used was so delicious I’m not going to mess with that. And it was perfect for scooping. (My own touch put on this bread of course)

2.5 c. flour

1/4 c. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. yeast

1 Tbs. olive oil

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. water

Dissolve the yeast in a little warm water. Add all ingredients to a bowl. Add the water slowly, mixing with hands until you have a nice, soft dough. Knead for several minutes. Cover with a towel and let rest for 1 hour. Divide into 4-5 fist sized balls. Preheat oven oven to 450 degrees and place the surface you are going to bake them on in the oven. (I used a baking stone.) Flatten the dough balls into somewhat of a circular shape, not too super thin. Poke them with a fork a few times. Flop how ever many you can fit quickly onto the hot stone. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, but watch them carefully. At this temperature it would be easy to overcook them.

Thanks Greg! Hope you didn’t mind me using your photos, but rest assured, I have all of about 10 people who read this! And they’re mostly family, so…

 

That “Green Thing”…

This is a bit of a read so feel free to pass, but I think it’s a really good thing to remember.

That “Green Thing”

Checking out at the store, a young cashier suggested to a much older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The older woman apologized and explained, “We didn’t have that ‘green thing’ back in my day.” The young clerk responded, “Yeah, you didn’t have the green thing back then, and that’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to safeguard our environment for future generations.”
She was right. That older generation didn’t have the “green thing” in their day. Back then, they returned milk and soda bottles to the store, which the store sent back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. They really were recycled,
but no, they didn’t have the “green thing” back then. Grocery stores bagged your groceries in brown paper bags, that were reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags being the use of brown paper bags as book covers to protect schoolbooks. Then kids were able to personalize their books on the brown paper bags. But, it is too bad they didn’t have the “green thing” back then.
They walked up stairs, because there wasn’t an escalator in every store and office building. They walked or rode a bike to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks. But she was right. They didn’t have the “green thing” back then.
Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because there were no throwaway kind. They dried clothes on a clothes line, not in an energy-gobbling clothes dryer. Wind and solar power really did do the job. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that young lady was right; they didn’t have the “green thing” back then.
Back then, families had one TV (if any), or radio, in the house, not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of the state of Montana!
In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have an electric machine to do every task for them. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. Hard work was their exercise so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on expensive treadmills. But she was absolutely right; they didn’t have the “green thing” back then. They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of filling landfills with endless plastic water bottles every time they were thirsty. They refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying new pens, and replaced the razor blades instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But no, they didn’t have the “green thing” back then.
Back then, kids either rode a bus or their bikes to school, and rode their bikes or walked to ball practice if possible, instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family’s $45,000 SUV or van, which cost more than a whole house did before the “green thing.” They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from a satellite 23,000 miles out in space just in order to find the nearest pizza place! But isn’t it sad they didn’t do the “green thing” back then? NO! What is sad is the current generation lamenting how wasteful the old folks were just because they called it “frugality” rather than the “green thing” back then?